Vehicle floor mat

Abstract

A vehicle floor mat includes a sheet of flexible thermoplastic elastomer containing at least one rigid plastic insert. The insert includes Velcro® hooks extending downwardly from its bottom surface for connecting the mat to a vehicle carpet or Velcro® loops on a pad connected to the vehicle floor pan. The insert is molded in a first injection molding operation, and then the sheet is molded around the top, sides and ends of the insert.

1 . A motor vehicle floor mat comprising a flexible thermoplastic sheet; at least one rigid plastic insert mounted in the sheet; and hooks on a bottom surface of said at least one plastic insert extending downwardly beyond a bottom surface of the sheet for connecting the mat to a vehicle carpet or loops extending upwardly from the vehicle floor. 
     
     
         2 . The floor mat of  claim 1 , wherein the sheet is formed of a thermoplastic elastomer. 
     
     
         3 . The floor mat of  claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic vinyl and styrene ethylene butylene styrene. 
     
     
         4 . The floor mat of  claim 2 , wherein the flexible sheet is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. 
     
     
         5 . The floor mat of  claim 1 , including a recess in the bottom surface of the sheet for receiving said at least one insert. 
     
     
         6 . The floor mat of  claim 1 , wherein the top surface of the sheet is connected to the bottom surface of a fabric carpet to form a bottom layer of the carpet. 
     
     
         7 . The floor mat of  claim 1 , wherein the sheet is sandwiched between the top and bottom layers of a fabric carpet with the hooks extending beneath said carpet bottom layer for connecting the carpet to another carpet or to loops extending upwardly from a pad on a vehicle floor pan. 
     
     
         8 . A method of producing a vehicle floor mat including the steps of molding at least one rigid plastic insert with hooks extending downwardly from a bottom surface thereof; placing said at least one insert in a mold; and molding a flexible sheet around a top surface, sides and ends of the insert, whereby the hooks extend downwardly beyond a bottom surface of the sheet for connecting the mat to a fabric carpet or loops extending upwardly from a vehicle floor pan. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , including the step of forming holes in the insert before molding the sheet to achieve a mechanical bond between the sheet and the insert when sheet material flows through the holes during molding of the sheet.